Wigton went into this game on the back of a 3 week period of inactivity and therefore were unable to build on the momentum of a convincing win against fellow strugglers Boroughbridge in their last outing. To make things worse a large number of first team regulars were absence leaving the Gaffa with only 10 regular players available for selection and was required to call upon Jhun Hamilton Guttierrez Machado, Wigton’s first Colombian signing and the cleaner at Grimes’ work who was given his debut up front…!
The pitch condition also failed to assist Wigton’s usual passing game and within minutes the heavy pitch was begin to resemble a British First World War trench. Despite a young and inexperienced backline Wigton started brightly and looked composed and reassured at the back as Andy Shatwell marshalled the back line. In a first half of few clear cut opportunities it was the visitors who took the lead when a speculative effort took a wicked deflection off Trigger’s belly before looping over Grimes.
It wasn’t long however before Wigton drew level when an excellent ball from Darryl played Jhun through and he was able to utilise his pace to beat the last defender before dinking one over the advancing keeper.
Despite getting themselves back into the game it wasn’t long before Harlow re-established their lead with a good long range finish from Harlow’s first meaningful attack of the game.
The second half saw a revitalised Wigton team who finally began to put some decent passages of good play together and it wasn’t long before Wigton got a deserved equaliser following a good run from Mike Shaw and a bit of good fortune as a last gasp challenge from a Harlow defender resulted in the ball falling at Mike’s feet who was as composed as ever in a one on one situation as he calmly slotted home past the Harlow keeper.
Wigton maintained their domination of the second half and shortly after took the lead following a good finish from Stephen Trueman from the right side of the penalty area after a well driven shot squeezed past Harlow’s keeper. The next 10 minutes of the game was one way traffic as Wigton tried in vain to extend their lead and were lucky when a quick counter attack saw a chipped effort bounce off Grimes crossbar however as Wigton looked to have secured the points Harlow drew level in the dying minutes when a goal mouth scramble saw the ball agonisingly roll over the line having come off the post.
Despite having been pegged back at the death Wigton can take great heart from the character they showed to battle back on two occasions with an inexperienced and young team.
